HIV/AIDS

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he is taking to tackle HIV/AIDS in the developing world.

Gareth Thomas: Over the next three years the UK will spend at least £1.5 billion to implement the UK strategy "Taking Action". This year, the UK has made AIDS a centrepiece of our G8 and EU presidencies, focusing on the importance of more and better aid for AIDS, maintaining HIV prevention momentum, and scaling up towards universal access to AIDS treatment by 2010.
	As EU President the UK hosted a high-level meeting that launched the EU Statement on HIV Prevention for an AIDS Free Generation. The UK will co-chair with UNAIDS, the Global Steering Committee on scaling up towards universal access to enhance international action to meet the G8 and World summit agreement on AIDS.

HIV/AIDS

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  what action his Department has taken to ensure delivery of the 2010 target for universal access to antiretroviral treatment for HIV and AIDS agreed by the G8 at Gleneagles and confirmed at the UN World summit;
	(2)  what steps his Department is taking to ensure delivery of the 2010 target for universal access to antiretroviral treatment for HIV and AIDS agreed by the G8 at Gleneagles and confirmed at the UN World summit.

Gareth Thomas: Gleneagles secured an important agreement
	"to develop and implement a package for HIV prevention, treatment and care, with the aim of as close as possible to universal access to treatment for all those who need it by 2010"'
	Progress has been swift since Gleneagles. The universal access commitment was also agreed by members states at the Millennium summit in September. The UK convened a rapid follow-up meeting (2 September), bringing together members of the G8, developing countries, civil society, together with the Joint United Nations Programme for HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Bank and UNICEF to start mapping out how to deliver against the commitment.
	The 2 September meeting showed a strong, shared commitment to joint action and agreed that efforts must:
	be country-owned and country-led;
	develop a package which balances treatment, prevention and care—a comprehensive response is essential to achieve the ambitious 2010 goal;
	situate actions to achieve Universal Access in wider efforts to eradicate poverty, strengthening broader services, including health systems;
	involve all key players: civil society, private sector, donors and affected countries.
	UNAIDS have been tasked with co-ordinating efforts and have now set up a Global Steering Committee (GSC), co-chaired by the UK and UNAIDS. The GSC will meet for the first time in Washington DC on 9/10 January 2006 and is expected to report to the High level UN General Assembly Special Session in mid 2006.

HIV/AIDS

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he is taking to tackle HIV/AIDS in the developing world.

Gareth Thomas: The UK has made a strong commitment to tackling HIV and AIDS in the developing world. Globally we are the second largest bilateral funder of AIDS-related activities. Last year saw the publication of the UK's Strategy "Taking Action: The UK's strategy for tackling HIV and AIDS in the developing world". This commits DFID to spending at least £1.5 billion over the next three years, to step up the international response to AIDS, including spending to at least £150 million to meet the needs of children affected by AIDS. This year, the UK has made AIDS a centrepiece of our G8 and EU presidencies, focusing on the importance of more and better aid for AIDS, maintaining HIV prevention momentum, and scaling up towards universal access to AIDS treatment by 2010, with the ultimate aim of achieving an AIDS-free generation.
	We secured a landmark agreement at Gleneagles
	"to develop and implement a package for HIV prevention, treatment and care, with the aim of as close as possible to universal access to treatment for all those who need it by 2010."
	Progress has been swift since Gleneagles. The universal access commitment was also agreed by member states at the Millennium summit in September. The UK convened a rapid follow-up, bringing together members of the G8, developing countries, civil society, together with the Joint United Nations Programme for HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Trade Organistaion (WHO), the World Bank and UNICEF to start mapping out how to deliver against the commitment.
	UNAIDS have now set up a Global Steering Committee (GSC), co-chaired by the UK and UNAIDS. The GSC will meet for the first time on 9–10 January 2006 to discuss and prepare a plan of action to be considered at the high level UN General Assembly Special Session in June 2006.
	In September 2005, the UK hosted the third and final Replenishment conference for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, chaired by UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. The Secretary of State confirmed that the UK is doubling support for the global fund in 2006 and 2007 to £100 million in each of these two years. The UK's pledge amounted to 10 per cent. of the US $3.7 billion pledged to the global fund for the two-year period by international donor. The amount pledged by 29 donors represents more than half of the global fund's total resource needs for the two-year period.
	The global fund conference also addressed the context within which the global fund operates. These discussions built on the 'Three Ones' principles and the UK co-hosted 'Making the Money Work' meeting, which had established a global task team (GTT) to improve AIDS co-ordination among multilateral and international donors. As a result of the GTT, the UK expects significant improvements in how the UN and international donors such as the global fund work together to support countries develop and lead effective responses to AIDS. To support this work, the UK doubled our contributions to UNAIDS for the next two years.
	EU Ministers met in London on 30 November under the UK presidency, confirmed their commitment to increased prevention by issuing a statement on a vision for an AIDS free generation—the first pan-European pledge of its kind. The statement backs efforts to give people around the world better access to condoms and effective information. It advocates a comprehensive and evidence-based approach to HIV prevention including sexual and reproductive health information and services, harm reduction programmes for injecting drug users and reliable access to sexual reproductive health commodities.
	For World AIDS day, the UK also published a cross-governmental briefing paper on harm reduction: "Tackling drug use and HIV in the developing world". This confirms the UK Government's commitment to harm reduction as an important part of the overall HIV prevention strategy in countries with serious HIV epidemics among injecting drug users, as well as in countries without serious HIV epidemics where harm reduction interventions help maintain low prevalence rates.
	As part of our commitment towards stepping up efforts on HIV prevention, DFID announced on World AIDS day (1 December) that it is giving an extra £20 million to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, and £7.5 million to the International Programme on Microbicides. This re-affirms the UK's long-standing commitment to developing new prevention technologies, and brings our total investment in mircobicides to over £50 million.

Departmental Expenditure

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much the Department and its agencies have spent on (a) the design and production of new logos and (b) employing external (i) public relations and (ii) graphic design agencies in each year since 2000, broken down by project.

Gareth Thomas: The Department for International Development (DFID) has spent nothing on the design and production of new logos; or on public relations in the years in question. Spending on graphic design agencies are as follows:
	
		
			£ 
			  2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 
		
		
			 Booklets 156,087 866,305 140,033 
			 Departmental report 83,439 54,566 58,180 
			 Posters 905 1,679 — 
			 Developments magazine 283,285 314,454 288,835 
			 Web — 2,406 — 
			 Total 523,716 1,239,410 487,048 
		
	
	Owing to changes in the DFID accounting system figures for the years 2000–01 to 2002–03 could be extracted only by incurring a disproportionate cost.

Sick Leave

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many of his Department's employees who are within one year of the official retirement age are on extended sick leave.

Gareth Thomas: None of DFID's employees who are within one year of the official retirement age are on extended sick leave. The official retirement age within DFID is 60, although staff may choose to serve on until age 65, subject to continued capability and satisfactory service. My Department is committed to managing sickness absence effectively and to putting in place the recommendations of the 2004 "Managing Sickness Absence in the Public Sector" report to reduce long-term sickness absence.

St. Helena

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the expenditure by the UK Government on conservation of St. Helena's biodiversity has been in each year since 1997.

Gareth Thomas: DFID does not keep statistics that separate out conservation of biodiversity from other conservation work on St. Helena.
	DFID provides St. Helena with funding through both direct budget support (to fund the budget deficit) and through development aid projects. St. Helena Government's expenditure in each financial year on conservation is shown in the following table, and this includes DFID funding in the form of direct budget support.
	
		
			  £ 
			  St. Helena Government conservation budget 
		
		
			 1997–98 67,614 
			 1998–99 68,821 
			 1999–2000 66,977 
			 2000–01 70,323 
			 2001–02 69,373 
			 2002–03 72,893 
			 2003–04 76,818 
			 2004–05 75,090 
		
	
	In addition, the joint DFID/FCO Overseas Territories Environment Programme (total budget £1.5 million over three years), a development aid project that covers all the UK Overseas Territories, spent £67,311 in 2004–05 and £41,000 in the current financial year on projects in St. Helena.
	A number of development aid infrastructure projects funded by DFID on the island also contribute directly and indirectly to the conservation of the island's biodiversity: the Drip Irrigation Project (£198,000 over three years) and Water Development Phase II Project (£1.25 million over five years) being good examples. The development aid programme has also included projects on forestry, water catchment, fishing, flora conservation and rodent control during the period.
	St. Helena has also received modest amounts of financial support for conservation from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Environmental Fund, the Worldwide Fund for Nature and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Many activities under a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Tourism Project also involve aspects of conservation.

Corporate Responsibility

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on her policies to promote corporate responsibility.

Elliot Morley: The Department for Trade and Industry has primary responsibility for corporate responsibility issues.
	The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) works to improve the UK's environmental performance, including that of UK business. This is a particularly important theme of DEFRA's strategic priority on sustainable consumption and production.
	On the narrower issue of corporate responsibility, we will shortly publish "Environmental Key Performance Indicators: Reporting Guidelines for UK Business". These guidelines will assist companies in fulfilling their obligations for an enhanced business review under the EU accounts modernisation directive, and in producing sustainability, corporate responsibility or environmental reports.
	DEFRA also promotes robust and credible environmental management systems (EMSs). In September 2005, we published a position statement setting out the qualities of a good EMS, and the steps Government are taking to encourage wider take up of these.

Opinion Polls

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) subject matter and (b) dates were of opinion survey research undertaken by the Department since its inception; if she will place copies of the results of each survey in the Library; which companies were used in conducting the research; and how much each was paid.

Jim Knight: Since inception, the Defra's Communications Directorate has commissioned an omnibus tracking survey to measure public awareness of DEFRA, knowledge of its responsibilities and opinions on its performance.
	Surveys conducted as follows;
	
		
			 Date Company Cost (£) 
		
		
			 February 2002 Taylor Nelson Sofres 42,000 
			 April 2004 Taylor Nelson Sofres 14,950 
			 October 2005 Taylor Nelson Sofres 26,000 
		
	
	Copies of all three surveys will be available in the Library.

Female Business Women

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps his Department is taking to encourage women to start their own businesses.

Alun Michael: In every area it is the role of the local Business Link to advise and signpost women to the range of help and support that is now available to them. The Government are developing the economic argument for Women's Enterprise and earlier this year published the booklet, "Promoting Female Entrepreneurship", which captures headline facts and has been used to stimulate thinking across Government and the regional development agencies.
	The Government have been working with partners within the Business Support arena to improve understanding of the support requirements of female entrepreneurs. This has resulted in a training programme for Business Link advisers called 'the Case', which is currently being rolled out and completes early next year.
	In October 2004 the Government reinforced their commitment to Women's Enterprise development with joint Hewitt/Brown formation of the Women's Enterprise Panel. The panel has: (i) developed an action plan to achieve a target of 20 per cent. female business ownership; and (ii) made a recommendation to Government to establish a National Women's Enterprise Task Force.
	The Government are working with the British Bankers Association to raise awareness of the full range of finance options available to female entrepreneurs.
	There is now a cross-Regional Development Agencies Group on Women's Enterprise. We also have an ongoing programme of work with RDAs and Black and Minority Ethnic women's networks to ensure that women from ethnic minority communities have improved access to Business Support.
	To give just one local example, in Coventry, Leigh-Anne Kirby and Lisa Tedds with help from Business Link, the Women's Business Development Agency and the Prince's Trust have successfully set up their Children's Activity Centre business called Monster Mayhem.
	There are over 40,000 more women in self-employment now than in spring 1997.

Female Business Women

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the number of companies with women on their boards.

Meg Munn: The Female FTSE figures for 2005 were published in November and showed an increase in the number of women on the boards of FTSE 1,000 companies. This index revealed that 78 companies have women on their boards and reflects an increase of 13 per cent. since 2004. Women now make up 10.5 per cent. of board members compared to 5.8 per cent. in 2000.
	Similar information for other companies is not available.

World Trade Organisation

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action the Government plan to take at the World Trade Organisation talks in Hong Kong to ensure fair treatment for the world's poorest farmers.

Ian Pearson: The Government ARE
	committed to achieving an ambitious, pro-development package at the WTO ministerial conference in Hong Kong, which will allow for a successful conclusion to the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) by the end of 2006.
	The DDA has the potential to deliver a freer and fairer trading system, benefiting farmers in developing countries and least developed countries through increased market access and the dismantling of trade-distorting subsidies by industrialised countries. The UK will press for poor countries to be given the flexibility to decide, plan and sequence trade reforms through effective special and differential treatment and, in the agriculture negotiations, designation of special products and use of a special safeguard mechanism.

Prosecutions

Paul Burstow: To ask the Solicitor-General how many prosecutions were dropped in each government region in England in each quarter since April 2004; what percentage of all cases each figure represents; what the total cost of cases dropped was; what the total cost of all cases was; and what the reason recorded on the Compass Case Management System was for each case dropped.

Mike O'Brien: I have placed in the House of Commons Library the number, percentage and costs of prosecutions dropped over the period from April 2004 to September 2005 in respect of magistrates courts cases and that of the Crown court. The detail is too lengthy to provide in a simple parliamentary answer.
	Broad average costs of prosecutions dropped have been calculated by applying the CPS activity based costing model, using average staff input times which enable costs for dropped cases in the magistrates court and the Crown court to be calculated. The broad average cost to CPS of a case dropped in the magistrates courts is £208, and for a case dropped in the Crown court is £1,840. The cost figures represent the internal cost to the Service but do not include disbursements such as counsel fees or witness expenses.
	The total cost of cases dropped over the 18 month period was £44 million. The cost of prosecuting all cases including cases dropped was approximately £450 million. Again, these figures exclude disbursements such as counsel fees and witness expenses.

Roads

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made with initiatives to reduce road congestion.

Stephen Ladyman: Significant progress has been made putting measures in place to tackle congestion through targeted improvements and new methods of managing traffic. Since 2001 we have completed 32 major strategic road schemes. A further 15 major schemes are currently under construction, including widening of the M25 between Junctions 12 to 15 around Heathrow.
	Uniformed Highways Agency Traffic Officers are now patrolling the motorway network in five regions of the country (West Midlands, South East, North West, North East, and East of England), having taken over some responsibilities from the police for managing incidents and keeping traffic moving. They now have powers to stop and direct traffic in live carriageways, and will be operational on all motorways by next summer.
	Regional control centres are assuming responsibility for scheduling road works, monitoring road conditions, establishing diversion alternatives, setting variable message signs for real-time traffic management, and supporting traffic officers. Five regional control centres are currently operational, and all seven will be live by summer 2006.
	Britain's first High Occupancy Vehicle (carpool) motorway lane will be trialled on the M1 between junctions 6A and 10 (St. Albans to Luton) in 2008, following widening of the motorway. As part of an Active Traffic Management pilot on the M42 corridor between junctions 3a and 7 to the east of Birmingham, mandatory variable speed limits became operational in November, with other aspects of the pilot to follow in 2006, including strictly controlled use of the hard shoulder as a running lane, and access management. Both schemes will operate at peak times to help minimise delay and congestion for road users.
	Transport Direct, the Government's real-time web-based travel information and journey planning service for public and private transport, allows travellers to check the likelihood of delays and see whether choosing a different route, departure time or transport mode might suit them better. The service has now recorded 2.5 million user sessions since formal launch in December 2004. The Highways Agency's "Traffic England" website is now operational with real-time information about traffic conditions on motorways and trunk roads.
	The Traffic Management Act 2004 gave local authorities a duty and new powers to do all that is reasonably practicable to keep roads clear and traffic moving, including appointing traffic managers to manage local roads; powers to co-ordinate utility and telecoms companies' road works to minimise disruption, enforce parking and bus lanes, and some moving traffic offences from police.
	In June the Government announced a Transport Innovation Fund to help local authorities develop local charging schemes. Up to £200 million per annum will be made available to support such schemes. Alistair Darling announced on 28 November that seven local authorities will share over £7 million in advance of the main fund to explore new ways to tackle local congestion.

Roads

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what the mean number of days was that road gritting took place in each county in England in 2004–05;
	(2)  what the costs of road gritting were in 2004–05, broken down by local authority;
	(3)  how many miles of roads were gritted (a) within 24 hours of the onset of wintry conditions and (b) in winter 2004–05, broken down by local authority area.

Karen Buck: This information is not collated centrally. The duration, amount, cost and timing of gritting will depend upon each local authority's individual winter service operational plan, and the weather conditions they experience.
	The Department for Transport strongly recommends that local highway authorities carry out winter maintenance in accordance with Section 13 of "Well-maintained Highways: Code of Practice for Highway Maintenance Management" published by the UK Roads Liaison Group earlier this year.

Roads

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what guidance the Government have given local authorities on (a) the width of roads and (b) the width of parking spaces.

Karen Buck: The "Design Manual for Roads and Bridges" (DMRB) sets the design standards, including road widths, for motorways and other trunk roads throughout the UK. Where it is used for local road schemes, it has the status of guidance only, and it is for local highway authorities to decide on the extent to which it is used in any particular situation.
	Guidance on the width of residential roads and footpaths is contained in "Design Bulletin 32: Residential Roads and Footpaths", and in "Places, Streets & Movement: A companion guide to Design Bulletin 32". In due course these two documents will be superseded by the "Manual for Streets", currently expected to be published by the Department for Transport in late 2006.
	The dimensions for parking bays are specified in Schedule 6 to the "Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002" (SI No. 3113). Guidance on use of the markings for different categories of user is given in section 20 of Chapter 5 of the "Traffic Signs Manual". Bays for general use can be varied in width between 1,800mm and 2,700mm at the local authority's discretion, to take account of local conditions. These bays may also be marked wholly or partially on the footway if the traffic order provides for this. Bays for disabled badge holders are normally required to be a minimum of 2,700mm wide (3,600mm maximum), but this minimum may be reduced to 1,800mm in a case where, on account of the nature of the traffic using the road, the overall width of the carriageway is insufficient to accommodate a wider bay. Echelon parking bays, set at an angle to the kerb, are required to be between 2,000mm and 2,500mm in width.

Transport Staff (Abuse)

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many reported incidents of (a) verbal abuse and (b) physical attack on train drivers, guards and ticket inspectors there have been in each year since 1997.

Alistair Darling: holding answer 22 November 2005
	The number of crimes recorded for verbal abuse is not available as the British Transport police (BTP) does not record these offences separately. However, the number of crimes for fear or provocation of violence, harassment, alarm or distress and other public order offences is shown as follows. These numbers include all offences of verbal abuse.
	The number of incidents of assaults on all rail staff while on duty, recorded by the BTP from April 1998, is also shown in the following table. A breakdown of these figures by train drivers, guards and ticket inspectors is not available.
	BTP has recognised that staff assaults are a major concern for the train operating companies and their employees and subsequently view this crime as a policing priority. BTP continue to explore different methods of preventing and detecting staff assaults.
	
		Number
		
			  Public order offences Staff assaults recorded 
		
		
			 1998–99 420 1,225 
			 1999–2000 566 1,433 
			 2000–01 678 1,329 
			 2001–02 692 1,438 
			 2002–03 961 1,925 
			 2003–04 1,011 2,240 
			 2004–05 1,198 2,769 
		
	
	A change in counting rules occurred in 1998. This was built upon by changes in the National Crime Recording Standards (NCRS) in 2002. With the shift to a more customer focused approach and the recording of crime based upon the perception of the victim rather than the police satisfying themselves that a crime had taken place; it was inevitable that there would be a rise in the number of crimes recorded. This point was acknowledged by the Home Office in their publication, "Crime in England and Wales 2002/03".
	Notes:
	1. Data is not available prior to April 1998, as the comparison is not meaningful due to a change in Home Office counting rules.
	2. It should also be noted that changes in the National Crime Recording Standards (NCRS) in 2002 led to a rise in the number of crimes recorded, with the biggest impact on the 'Violence against the person' grouping equating to an average 23 per cent. increase in this crime recorded by police forces across England and Wales.

Travel Subsidies

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much has been spent on subsidies for rail and bus travel in each of the last five years.

Derek Twigg: Central Government spending on bus and heavy rail services for the period in question are set out in the following table.
	
		
			   £ billion 
			  Bus Rail 
		
		
			 2000–01 1.1 1.2 
			 2001–02 1.4 1.8 
			 2002–03 1.9 2.5 
			 2003–04 2.0 3.6 
			 2004–05(8) 2.0 4.2 
		
	
	(8) Budget estimates
	Spending on rail includes payments to franchised rail operators, grants to PTEs, grants to rail freight operators and capital grants to infrastructure operators.
	The figures in the table for buses show spending in respect of English services—(following devolution, the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly assumed responsibility for buses). The majority of bus subsidy in England (outside London) is funded by local authorities from their own resources, including the revenue support grant from Government. Local authorities also provide concessionary fares reimbursement to bus operators. Financial support for bus services in London is provided by the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL). The Department for Transport also provides rural bus subsidy grant (RBSG) and, to 2003–04, Urban and Rural Bus Challenge funding. The figures in the table show local authority and TfL expenditure on provision of bus services and concessionary fares on buses for each of the five years to 2004–05 as well the DfT's RBSG allocations bus challenge awards and capital investments in bus related projects.

Benefits (Leeds, West)

John Battle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in Leeds West constituency were in receipt of (a) family credit, (b) working families tax credit, (c) disabled person's tax credit, (d) child tax credit and (e) working tax credit in each of the last eight years in which the credit was payable.

Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of the number of families who were receiving family credit broken down by region are not available. Estimates of the number of recipient families of working families' and disabled person's tax credits from 2001–2002 broken down by constituency appear in the quarterly WFTC and DPTC Geographical Analyses. These publications can be found on the Inland Revenue website, at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/menu.htm
	Comparable estimates of the number of in-work families (broken down by families with and without children) in each region, local authority and constituency with tax credits for 2003–04 awards, based on final family circumstances and incomes for 2003–04, appear in the HMRC statistical publication "Child and Working Tax Credits statistics. Finalised Awards 2003–04. Geographical analyses."
	More recent provisional estimates for in-work families, as at selected dates in 2004–05, in each such area appear in the publication "Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics Geographical Analyses."
	Both of these publications can be found on the HMRC website at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-stats.htm.

British Film Industry

David Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what support the Government gave to the British film industry in (a) direct funding and (b) tax breaks in the last 10 years for which figures are available.

Dawn Primarolo: The tax costs of Sections 42 and 48 film tax relief are provided in the following table. These costs include substantial known avoidance that was closed down by anti-avoidance measures announced at the 2004 pre-Budget report.
	
		
			(£ million) 
			  Section 42 relief Section 48 relief Total 
		
		
			 1997–98 5 5 10 
			 1998–99 10 40 50 
			 1999–2000 20 80 100 
			 2000–01 25 90 115 
			 2001–02 35 120 155 
			 2002–03 60 145 205 
			 2003–04 95 190 285 
			 2004–05 170 350 520 
			 2005–06 220 340 560 
		
	
	The Government has also provided £448 million in direct funding to the UK film industry in the last 10 years. This figure includes:
	£252 million National Lottery funding provided by the Arts Council between 1995 and 2001;
	£19 million provided to the British Screen Finance Group between 1996 and 2000; and
	£177 million National Lottery funding provided by the UK Film Council between 2000 and 2005.

Departmental Tendering Policy

Martin Horwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his policy is on including (a) ethical and (b) environmental factors in tenders for services.

John Healey: The Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs follow common procurement policies.
	(a) Ethical factors:
	Fair and Ethical Trading
	There is scope under the Government's procurement policy and the EU procurement rules to encourage the inclusion of fair trade options in tenders for catering services and supply contracts, but under the EU rules, specifications cannot be framed exclusively in terms of fair trade requirements.
	The opportunity to purchase Fair Trade goods is considered on a case-by-case basis, and in accordance with the OGC Guidance on Fair and Ethical Trading http://www.ogc.gov.uk/embedded_object.asp?docid=1001597
	When tendering for services, staff follow the procurement guidance in Government Accounting Chapter 22 http://www.government-accounting.gov.uk/current/content/qa_22_4.htm. which requires Departments to preserve the highest standards of honesty, integrity, impartiality and objectivity in all dealings with suppliers and potential suppliers.
	(b) Environmental factors:
	The Treasury and HMRC are committed to Sustainable Development and the policy followed by both Departments on environmental purchasing is set out at http://www.hmrc. gov.uk/about/supguide.htm11:
	Environmental issues are included in the tender documents as appropriate and where a contract is deemed to have an environmental impact, there is a questionnaire that is issued to potential suppliers.

Tax Allowances

David Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if he will list the tax allowances which are operative;
	(2)  what tax allowances have been abolished since 1997.

Dawn Primarolo: The main rates and allowances are set out each year in the Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report and Financial Statement and Budget Report. Copies of this are available in the House Library. More detailed information on individual tax allowances and reliefs with an estimate annual cost of at least £50 million can be found in the HM Treasury publication, "Tax ready reckoner and tax reliefs". Recent versions can be found on the HM Treasury website and historic copies are held in the House Library.
	Information on minor tax expenditures and structural reliefs where the costs are less than £50 million is published on the HMRC website. Historic versions are published in "Inland Revenue Statistics".

Tax Allowances

David Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total cost was of tax allowances in terms of revenue foregone in each year since 1997.

Dawn Primarolo: Information on allowances and reliefs with an estimated annual cost of at least £50 million is published in the HM Treasury publication "Tax ready reckoner and tax reliefs". Recent versions can be found on the HM Treasury website and historic copies are held in the House of Commons Library.
	http://archive.treasury.gov.uk/prebudget/Nov99/trr.pdf
	http://archive.treasury.gov.uk/pbr2000/tax_ready.pdf
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/DAF/77/TRR01Draft6%20-%20final.pdf
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk./media/01A/FB/adtrr02.pdf
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk./media/D5D/B2/pbrQ3_trr_revised.pdf
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk./media/8F5/9F/pbr04tax_ready_182.pdf.
	An updated version will be available on 5 December 2005.
	Information on minor tax expenditures and structural reliefs where the costs are less than £50 million is published on the HMRC website. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/tax_expenditures/menu.htm.
	Historic versions are published in "Inland Revenue Statistics".
	These tables only contain details relating to former Inland Revenue taxes. The data on minor tax expenditures and structural reliefs will be updated on 30 December 2005 and will cover all HMRC taxes.
	All historic estimates were correct at the time of publication. These do not necessarily constitute a consistent time series for all allowances and reliefs.

Vegetable Oil

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what fiscal measures his Department is taking to encourage the use of vegetable oil as an alternative fuel;
	(2)  what legal advice his Department has received on whether pure vegetable oil should qualify for the lower biodiesel rate of duty;
	(3)  if he will list the fuels that are classed as biofuels.

John Healey: A reduced rate of duty for biodiesel was introduced in July 2002 in recognition of its environmental benefits and its higher production costs than conventional diesel. Fuel produced from vegetable oil is eligible for this lower rate (currently 27.10 pence per litre) if it meets the legal definition of biodiesel for tax purposes set out in section 2AA of the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979. As with all legislation, this definition was drawn up taking account of legal advice from the Government's legal advisers.
	The term "biofuels" is not defined in legislation for tax purposes. It is a generic term covering energy products derived from biomass. A lower duty rate of 27.10 pence per litre is also applied to bioethanol (a petrol substitute).

Departmental Tendering Policy

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her policy is on including (a) ethical and (b) environmental factors in tenders for services.

Bill Rammell: Department for Education and Skills (DfES) expects to let all its contracts in accordance with moral principles, and would consider any case where evidence to the contrary was presented.
	Environmental factors in contracts let by DfES have been considered on a case by case basis relative to the subject matter of the contract, and the requirements of European Union law.
	The Department will be making use of the "Sustainable Procurement Toolkit" due to be issued shortly by DEFRA which will enhance further the consideration of environmental factors in public sector contracts.

Education Funding

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 23 November 2005, Official Report, column 2075W, on education funding, what research was conducted to enable the decision to be made that (a) a basic food hygiene certificate, (b) emergency aid for appointed persons, (c) lifesaver for babies and children and (d) preparing for an emergency: The British Red Cross response courses have limited benefits in terms of progression for learners.

Bill Rammell: The Learning and Skills Council conducted in depth analysis of learners attending very short courses. The analysis indicated that, in the case of the basic food hygiene, emergency aid for appointed persons, lifesaver for babies and children and the British Red Cross response courses, only 147 of the 31,260 learners enrolled in 2004/05 went on to further learning in that year.
	The Learning and Skills Council's document "Priorities for Success" set out the Government's intention that in future, food hygiene and other health and safety courses taken by those in work should be fully funded by the employer wherever possible, in line with employers' statutory duty to meet the terms of relevant legislation. The LSC is consulting further on this proposition with key stakeholders. Where individuals are taking qualifications on their own account the expectation is that learners should cover the full cost, although colleges are of course still free to reduce or waive the course fee at their discretion. This is consistent with the principle set out in the Governments skills strategy that individuals should contribute more towards the cost of their learning in line with the benefits they receive. However, while the LSC will cease funding for very short courses below nine guided learning hours (excluding provision for personal and community development learning and learndirect courses), such learning may still continue if it is part of a larger programme that is more likely to lead to progression to further learning.

Higher Education

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps are being taken by the Department to encourage graduates to work in higher education.

Bill Rammell: The responsibility for recruiting staff lies with higher education institutions (HEIs), as the employers. However, we have supported HEIs in developing their human resource capability through the rewarding and developing staff initiative (R and DS), which includes recruitment and retention as one of the priority areas for this funding. A recent evaluation carried out for the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) by KPMG identified that about £72.9 million (of the total £370 million R and DS funding 2001–02 to 2003–04) had been spent on recruitment and retention.
	The Department has also implemented, through HEFCE, a "Golden Hello" programme of funding to encourage new entrants into teaching shortage subjects. Each "Golden Hello" is worth £9,000 to an individual, over three years.

Law Students

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps her Department plans to take in response to the recent report by the Higher Education Funding Council for England that ethnic minority candidates face a significantly lower chance of receiving an offer to study law.

Bill Rammell: The report "Higher Education Admissions: Assessment of the Bias", by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) re-works a previous study from 2002 (based on 1996/07 data) that found that applicants from ethnic minorities were disadvantaged. It is good news that the re-examination of the data does not show the same biases in HE admissions as suggested by the original research. HEFCE did however find that ethnic minority applicants had lower chances of receiving an offer when applying to study law than would be expected given their predicted grades and other factors. A certain amount of caution needs to be attached to these findings, due to the age and other inadequacies of the data. It is important to look at what has happened more recently, and HEFCE's proposals for more research in this area will do so.
	It is not acceptable for any bias to be found for any subject or minority group. While admissions are the sole responsibility of institutions, the Government do have a legitimate interest in the fairness of the admissions process. That is why Professor Steven Schwartz was invited to lead an independent review of the HE admissions system. That review found that admissions processes are generally fair but established a number of underpinning principles that the sector has been encouraged to adopt. The Department, as requested by Professor Schwartz, plans to undertake a follow-up review of progress in 2007/08.
	Institutions must not be complacent and must strive to eradicate biases as they develop their fair admissions policies and practices. Research such as this and the follow-up work that HEFCE is recommending will help institutions address the problems identified.

Learning and Skills Council

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the implications for (a) the advice given to 16 to 18-year-olds and (b) the funding for the education of that age group of the restructuring of the Learning and Skills Council.

Bill Rammell: The LSC's proposed restructuring is designed to achieve better focus and more consistent delivery at a local level through the creation of 148 Local Partnership Teams. The provision of high quality advice and guidance will remain a key priority for the LSC, and the Local Partnership Teams will work with a range of partners, including services providing advice and guidance for 16 to 18-year-olds, to ensure an improved choice for learners. The LSC's funding priorities for 2006–07 and 2007–08 were published in its funding document "Priorities for Success" on 21 October 2005. Priority will be given to increasing the numbers of 16 to 18-year-olds engaged in learning and achieving a worthwhile qualification. These funding proposals allow for a significant increase in volumes for this age group.

Truancy

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps she is taking to combat truancy.

Jacqui Smith: I refer my hon. Friend to the replies given on 2 November 2005, Official Report, column 1216W to a question from the hon. Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell) and on 9 November 2005, Official Report, column 623W to a question from the hon. Members for Buckingham (John Bercow) and Romford.
	In September 2005, I announced a drive against 'serial truants' in 146 secondary schools which account for one in five of all instances of unauthorised authorised absence across the country. This drive will provide an intensive package of support and challenge to truants and their families. We have now extended this drive to cover 200 secondary schools and an estimated 13,000 pupils.
	Key workers in the 200 schools and their local authorities will draw up an individual action plan and work with each truant to improve their school attendance. Where appropriate, truants and their families will be given co-ordinated support from children's services to tackle wider issues such as drugs, mental health or parenting skills that might be contributing to their truancy. Key workers will also consider referring parents of the most persistent truants onto the 'Fast Track to Attendance' scheme and, unless the youngster's attendance improves over a 12 week period, the parents will face a penalty notice or prosecution.

Under-achievement

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the provision of mentoring upon underachievement by children from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Beverley Hughes: The scope and understanding of mentoring practice appears to vary widely depending on the intended aims of the programme. By and large, mentoring appears to have benefits on achievement, and generally such schemes are directed at those from low socio-economic groups almost by definition.
	Our principle mentoring programme working with children from low socio-economic backgrounds is the learning mentor programme.
	Excellence in Cities (EiC) is a targeted programme of support for schools in deprived areas of the country. Learning mentors are part of this programme, described by Ofsted (2003) as:
	"the most successful and highly valued strand of the EiC programme".
	Learning mentors are salaried non-teaching school support staff who work with school and college students and pupils to help them address barriers to learning. These barriers can be wide ranging and often very personal to the individual pupil. They include the need to develop better learning and study skills, personal organisation, difficulties at home, behaviour, bullying, or just general disaffection and disengagement from learning.
	At present it is estimated that around 6,000 learning mentors are working in the secondary sector and 4000 in primary, funded through excellence in cities (EiC) provision. The numbers will be higher than this as an increasing number are being employed outside of EiC areas.
	Learning mentors work with caseloads of pupils, largely on a 1:1 or small group basis, but also run clubs and "drop ins". They liaise closely with teachers and other support professionals, and often act as a supportive link between the family and school. One to one support may include developing coping strategies, enhancing motivation, raising aspirations and encouraging re-engagement in learning, taking account of a range of complex underlying issues that may impact negatively on learning and achievement (e.g. bereavement, lack of confidence/low self-esteem, low aspirations, mental health issues, relationship difficulties, bullying, peer pressure, family issues/concerns).
	NFER (2004) Evaluation indicates positive impact of learning mentors on attainment outcomes for young people. Seeing a learning mentor was associated with a level of performance above that which might be anticipated from their prior attainment. In particular:
	In low performing schools, young people who had seen a learning mentor in a low-performing school performed an average of 0.15 GCSE points better than their peers who had not seen a mentor.
	In low performing schools, students with a learning mentor were also one and a half times more likely to have achieved five or more GCSEs at A* to C grades than young people with similar prior attainment and other characteristics who had not been mentored.
	In high performing schools, mentees were three times more likely to have achieved three or more GCSEs at A* than those who had not seen a learning mentor
	Regarding learning mentors' impact on behaviour, more than half of the identified group of 430 young people who had been mentored over two years demonstrated a positive change in either their attitudes (to school, to teachers and/or to learning) or their behaviour (in terms of improved attendance, punctuality and/ or completion of work).
	In addition to their impact on academic performance, Ofsted (2003) found that:
	"Learning mentors are making a significant effect on the attendance, behaviour, self-esteem and progress of the pupils they support".
	Ofsted further reported that in 95 percent. of the survey schools, inspectors judged that the mentoring programme made a positive contribution to the mainstream provision of the school as a whole, and had a beneficial effect on the behaviour of individual pupils and on their ability to learn and make progress." (Ofsted 2003)
	The behaviour improvement programme (BiP) evaluation report by the university of London, published in November 2005, states that "learning mentors were seen to fulfil one of the key roles in the programme and were highly valued by schools particularly at primary level. The BiP focuses on addressing behaviour and attendance issues in schools.
	There are additional forms of mentoring provided within schools which are not provided by school learning mentors (employed by the school/local authority) e.g. peer and voluntary mentoring. There is also the work carried out by the mentoring and befriending foundation (ttp://www.mandbf.org.uk/).

Service Schools

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether children in service schools are tested and assessed in a way comparable to state schools.

Don Touhig: All service children's education (SCE) schools follow the statutory requirements and guidance on the national curriculum assessment arrangements as outlined in the Education Act 2000. This includes assessing pupils for the foundation stage profile and attainment at the end of all key stages. Older pupils undertake GCSE and "A" level examinations in common with English state schools.

White Phosphorus

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the use of white phosphorus by the British Army.

John Reid: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given in another place on 29 November 2005, Official Report, column WA23, by my noble Friend (Lord Drayson), the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Defence Procurement.

Migrant Workers

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of migrant workers to the UK from the EU's new accession countries are women.

Tony McNulty: The accession monitoring report for May 2004—September 2005 sets out the number of citizens from East European member states of the EU who have applied for registration with the worker registration scheme during this period. This report is available on the Home Office website:
	via:http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en/home/0/reports/accession_monitoring.htm
	Section three of the report, "Age and Gender of Registered Workers", shows that during the period May 2004 to September 2005, 43 percent. of the migrants from the new EU member states who applied for registration with the scheme were women.
	This proportion has varied over the period. During the first quarter after accession the proportion of women applying for registration was 47 percent. During the second quarter of 2005 the proportion was 40 percent.

Passport Costs

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of (a) a standard (32 page) passport, (b) a frequent traveller (48 page) passport, (c) a child passport (five years validity) and (d) an emergency passport was in each year since 1980.

Andy Burnham: Passport fees relating to each year since 1980 are set out in the following table. The fees are those which were appropriate at 1 January each year. An emergency same day service was only introduced from November 2001 and five year child passports were introduced in October 1998, the table below reflects the price of amending a parents passport before 1999. The decrease in frequent traveller costs in 1991 was due to a reduction in book size from 94 pages to 48.
	
		
			 £ 
			  Adult standard Adult same day Adult frequent traveller Child 
		
		
			 1980 11.00 — 22.00 — 
			 1981 11.00 — 22.00 — 
			 1982 11.00 — 22.00 — 
			 1983 11.00 — 22.00 — 
			 1984 15.00 — 30.00 4.00 
			 1985 15.00 — 30.00 4.00 
			 1986 15.00 — 30.00 4.00 
			 1987 15.00 — 30.00 4.00 
			 1988 15.00 — 30.00 4.00 
			 1989 15.00 — 30.00 4.00 
			 1990 15.00 — 30.00 4.00 
			 1991 15.00 — 30.00 4.00 
			 1992 15.00 — 22.50 4.00 
			 1993 18.00 — 27.00 5.00 
			 1994 18.00 — 27.00 5.00 
			 1995 18.00 — 27.00 5.00 
			 1996 18.00 — 27.00 5.00 
			 1997 18.00 — 27.00 5.00 
			 1998 18.00 — 27.00 5.00 
			 1999 21.00 — 31.00 11.00 
			 2000 28.00 — 38.00 14.80 
			 2001 28.00 — 38.00 14.80 
			 2002 30.00 75.00 40.00 16.00 
			 2003 33.00 75.00 40.00 16.00 
			 2004 42.00 89.00 54.50 25.00 
			 2005 42.00 89.00 54.50 25.00

Penalty Notices

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many penalty notices for disorder have been issued for (a) theft and (b) criminal damage in each month since November 2004; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: Offences under section one of the Theft Act 1968, for retail theft under the value of £200 and section 1(1) of the Criminal Damage Act 1971, for destroying or damaging property under the value of £500 can attract a Penalty Notice for Disorder. Both offences were included into the PND scheme from 1 November 2004. The numbers of penalty notices issued by month are provided in the following table.
	
		Number of penalty notices for disorder issued for certain offences by month, England and Wales, November 2004 to July 2005(21)
		
			   Year/month Destroying or damaging property (under £500)  Theft (retail under £200) 
		
		
			 2004   
			 November 451 873 
			 December 651 1,145 
			
			 20051   
			 January 579 1,036 
			 February 736 1,292 
			 March 767 1,657 
			 April 802 1,668 
			 May 924 1,741 
			 June 899 1,649 
			 July 934 1,499 
			 Total 5,641 10,542 
		
	
	(21) Data for 2005 is provisional
	Source:
	RDS—Office for Criminal Justice Reform

Project Costs

Andrew Turner: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission if he will list the projects costing over £100,000 undertaken on behalf of the Commission since 1997; and what the cost was of each project.

Nick Harvey: I regret that I am unable to do so, in the absence of a clear definition of what constitutes a project for the purposes of this request. Within an annual Administration Estimate cash budget of over £150 million, there are many developments in the services and facilities provided which might or might not be defined as "projects". There have for example been over 250 readily identifiable works and IT-related projects since 1997, many jointly funded with the House of Lords. Records of other projects and programmes are not held centrally, and compiling a comprehensive and authoritative list could be done only at disproportionate cost.

Client Advice

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what guidelines exist for civil servants in Northern Ireland who receive client advice from a firm at a time when they might also be in a position to decide service contracts in which the same firm might have an interest.

Angela Smith: No specific guidelines exist for civil servants in Northern Ireland who receive client advice from a firm at a time when they might also be in a position to decide service contracts in which the same firm might have an interest.
	All civil servants in Northern Ireland are, however, subject to Northern Ireland Government Accounting Guidance which among other issues sets out the general principles which apply to the acquisition of public works, supplies and services.
	These principles are aligned to the 12 best value for money principles which govern the administration of public procurement in Northern Ireland.
	One of the key principles is "Integrity" which addresses the issues of anti-corruption or collusion with suppliers and ensures that ethical standards of conduct are not compromised. Other relevant principles are transparency and fair dealing.
	Under Northern Ireland Procurement Policy, procurement is undertaken by professionals within Centres of Procurement Expertise who oversee and manage the procurement process to ensure its compliance with regulations and the 12 guiding principles.

Domestic Electricity Costs

William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost of electricity was to customers in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.

Angela Smith: The annual electricity bills for a typical domestic customer, small to medium enterprise customer (SME) and large industrial customer, supplied by Northern Ireland Electricity in each of the last five years, are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  £ 
			  2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 
		
		
			 Domestic 309 309 309 318 328 
			 Small to medium enterprise 1,560 1,560 1,560 1,644 1,770 
			 Large industrial 320,000 320,000 320,000 337,000 360,000 
		
	
	The annual bills for the SME and large industrial customers are indicative only because a proportion of those customers purchase their electricity from other suppliers in the competitive market for which full cost details are not publicly available.

Poppy Wearing

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the Equality Commission's advice to employers and employees in Northern Ireland is regarding the wearing of poppies in the workplace during the period immediately before Remembrance Day.

Angela Smith: I understand that the chief executive of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, Ms Evelyn Collins, has written to the hon. Gentleman in the following terms:
	"The Equality Commission recognises the sensitivity surrounding the use of emblems and symbols within Northern Ireland and offers guidance on these issues based on the relevant legislation.
	The Commission is of the view that the wearing of poppies by individuals in the workplace, in a respectful manner and within the appropriate period, should not be something which would cause offence.
	Our advice to employers on the general issue of emblems in the workplace is that emblems which tend to distinguish one community from the other in Northern Ireland but are not directly connected with community strife are unlikely to be regarded as creating an intimidating or hostile working environment as described in the Code of Practice. In this category would fall marks of religious observance, ashes, crosses, crucifixes, pioneer pins, fainnes, as well as poppies and shamrocks when worn with decorum and at the appropriate period.
	It would be unacceptable if an individual was made to feel uncomfortable for not wearing any particular emblem or if the emblem was being flaunted before or forced on someone not wearing it.
	It is a part of the Commission's remit to give advice and guidance on the Fair Employment legislation. It is for the Fair Employment Tribunal and the courts to establish and interpret the law, and, of course, if any individual feels that the use of emblems has constituted an unlawful act they are free to apply to the Tribunal for a decision on that point."

Chad

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the recent arrest and release of Hissène Habré, former President of Chad, in Senegal.

Ian Pearson: The Senegalese authorities, following an extradition request from Belgium, detained and subsequently provisionally released Hissène Habré pending further discussion with African partners at the Africa Union summit in January 2006.

China

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on human rights in China.

Ian Pearson: The Government have concerns about a wide range of human rights issues in China. These are set out in the current Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Human Rights report at:
	http://www.fco.gov.uk/Files/kfile/HumanRights2005.pdf.
	We raise our concerns with the Chinese Fovernment regularly, including through the UK China Human Rights dialogue, ministerial engagement and EU mechanisms. The Government acknowledges that the Chinese Government has recently done much to reduce poverty and promote economic development.

China

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will include reference to the Chinese One Child Policy in his Department's Human Rights Annual Report for 2006; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Annual Report on Human Rights provides an overview of the main challenges to human rights around the world and explains the Government's activities and policies. Although we are not yet in a position to decide on exactly what subjects we will cover in next year's report, we will consider including material assessing the reform and operation of China's population policies.
	The Government have never questioned China's right or need to implement family planning policies but has made it clear that we believe they should be based on the principles of the International Conference on Population and Development; that is on consent not coercion. We have raised concerns about this policy, including reports of enforced sterilisation and abortion. We have also raised the case of the lawyer Chen Guancheng who is being held under house arrest after he highlighted abuses in the implementation of the one child policy in Shandong. The Chinese Government have admitted there have been occasional problems with maladministration of the policy, but insists that this is down to individuals rather than overall malign intent.

Democratic Republic of Congo

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Congolese authorities regarding the allegations of serious corruption affecting the funding of the army; and what plans he has to address this issue with the UN mission in that country.

Ian Pearson: The UK continues to press the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to implement the European Union's Security Sector Reform Mission recommendations, which aim to create a sustainable and transparent financing and administrative system for the whole army, ensuring that salaries reach soldiers on the ground. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for International Development, Hilary Benn reinforced this message to the President and other Government leaders during his visit to the DRC from 30 October to 1 November.
	Addressing corruption within the armed forces is an integral part of the security sector reform programme which we are helping to implement. We continue to work together with the UN peacekeeping force (MONUC) and other partners to achieve that end.

Ethiopia/Eritrea

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Ethiopian Government concerning the killing of 46 demonstrators by security forces in the first week of November; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: My noble Friend, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister for Africa, Lord Triesman of Tottenham, summoned the Ethiopian Charge d'Affaires on 1 November to register our concerns about the situation in Ethiopia. On 6 November, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development (Hilary Benn) also raised the issue when he spoke to Prime Minister Meles. On 6 November, in our capacity as EU presidency, we also issued a statement on the situation in Ethiopia. Our ambassador in Ethiopia has also raised our concerns with Prime Minister Meles, the Ethiopian Foreign Minister and other Government Ministers. We continue to raise our concerns at every suitable opportunity.

Ethiopia/Eritrea

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Ethiopian Government following the detention without charge of (a) Hailu Shawel, (b) Professor Mesfin Woldemariam, (c) Dr. Yacob Hailemarian, (d) Ms Birtukan Mideksa, (e) Dr. Berhanu Negga and (f) others; what representations he has made about the possibility that they will be charged with treason following demonstrations in Addis Ababa; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: My noble Friend, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister for Africa, Lord Triesman of Tottenham, summoned the Ethiopian Charge d'Affaires on 1 November to register our concerns about the situation in Ethiopia, including the issue of detainees. On 6 November, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development (Hilary Benn) also raised the issue when he spoke to Prime Minister Meles. On 6 November, in our capacity as EU presidency, we also issued a statement on the situation in Ethiopia, which included reference to our concerns regarding detainees. Our ambassador in Ethiopia has also raised our concerns with Prime Minister Meles, the Ethiopian Foreign Minister and other Government Ministers. We continue to call for the immediate release of all political detainees, for those individuals not charged under due process to be released immediately, and for access to those detained for their families, legal counsel and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross or other appropriate representatives of the international community.

HIV/AIDS

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to the South African Health Minister on offering appropriate treatment to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

Ian Pearson: HIV and AIDS is a top priority for the UK bilateral development programme in South Africa. The Department for International Development funded a £30 million multisectoral program in 2003. The programme works with partners in Government at national, e.g. Departments of Health, Social Development and Defence and provincial, e.g. in Eastern Cape, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal levels. However, while the Government is happy to assist South Africa if requested, the implementation of healthcare policy, including that on HIV/AIDS, is within the South African Government's remit.

Iran

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the United Kingdom's relations with Iran.

Kim Howells: We have serious concerns about Iran's position on a number of issues. At the International Atomic Energy Agency Board meeting on 24 November we made clear our growing concerns about Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. We have also expressed our concerns about Iran's attitude towards terrorism; its lack of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; and its unhelpful approach to the Middle East Peace Process and to Iraq. Progress in our relations with Iran will depend on action by Iran to address these concerns.

Opposition Spokespersons (Formal Visits)

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the formal visits (a) undertaken by and (b) participated in by official Opposition spokespersons which were funded by his Department in the last two years.

Ian Pearson: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) funded the visit of the official Opposition Shadow Minister for Defence, the hon. Member for Blaby, to Iraq in 2005.
	In 2004 two official Opposition Whips, the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle and the hon. Member for Bury St. Edmunds, participated in an FCO funded cross-party visit to the United Nations in New York.
	Records show visits by official Opposition spokespersons who received briefings, hospitality or accommodation from our posts as:
	Shadow Foreign Secretary, the hon. Member for Woodspring—Turkey, South Africa, Namibia, Israel, Jordan, United States of America, India.
	Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the hon. Member for Tatton—China, Estonia.
	Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, the hon. Member for Devizes—Egypt, Israel,Jordan.
	Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, the hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham—NATO parliamentary assembly.
	Shadow Minister for Homeland Security, the hon. Member for Newark—Pakistan
	Shadow Minister for the Treasury, the hon. Member for West Suffolk:- Bahrain
	Shadow Minister for the Olympics and Sport, the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid Kent—Singapore.

Special Advisers

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the special advisers in post in his Department, broken down by pay band; and what the total budgeted cost to his Department of special advisers is for 2005–06.

Jack Straw: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Kernel Hempstead (Mike Penning) today (UIN 27410).
	Information relating to costs for 2005–06 will be published after the end of the current financial year.

Syria

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations (a) he and (b) his officials have made to the Government of Syria regarding the safety, proper treatment and fair trial of Dr. Kamal al-Labwani; and if he will make a statement.

Kim Howells: Neither I nor my right hon. Friend, the Foreign Secretary, have raised the case of Dr. al-Labwani with the Syrian Government. However, our ambassador in Damascus has raised Dr. Labwani's case with the Syrian authorities, and, in our capacity as Presidency of the EU, led calls for his early release. We will continue to monitor developments closely.

A&E Departments

Julie Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what risk assessment she has undertaken of major accident and emergency departments functioning without the back-up of a paediatrics department on same site.

Liam Byrne: Assessment and resuscitation procedures for children are available in all major accident and emergency units. Where children requiring hospital admission attend an accident and emergency unit that does not have a paediatrics department on site, the unit will initiate care and arrange transfer to an appropriate department. This procedure addresses risks associated with failing to achieve best outcome, where staff might otherwise undertake specialised paediatric interventions with which they are unfamiliar.
	There is a consultation currently in progress, "The acutely or critically sick or injured child in the district general hospital", which is accessible on the Department's website at http://www.dh.gov.uk/Consultations/fs/en. The consultation document makes explicit recommendations about the competencies needed in a paediatric resuscitation team and those needed for stabilisation of the critically ill or injured child.

Ambulance Trusts

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 31 October 2005, Official Report, column 832W, on ambulance trusts, what the evidential basis was for deciding that 11 ambulance trusts are the most effective; and what plans she has to commission further research on the effectiveness of reorganising ambulance trusts.

Liam Byrne: The consultation document due to be issued shortly will outline the criteria that we have used to arrive at the proposal of 11 ambulance trusts for the future. These criteria include, ensuring the new organisations are operationally fit for purpose, fit with other national health service boundaries and with other Government boundaries. The results from the consultation will be a key factor in taking the final decisions.
	"Taking Healthcare to the Patient: Transforming NHS Ambulance Services" sets out the vision and recommendations for the ambulance service in the future, for the local NHS to take forward. If the reconfiguration proposals are accepted following consultation, all new trusts will be judged on the extent to which they effectively implement the review's recommendations to successfully build on existing good practice and high performance to provide efficient, effective, locally responsive ambulance trusts that best meet patient need. The proposed new ambulance organisations would also still be required to achieve national performance requirements, for example on response times.

Castle Hill Hospital

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) capital value of and (b) total expected repayment to the private finance initiative contractor is for phase 5 of the Castle Hill Hospital.

Liam Byrne: The capital value of the phase five project is around £8.8 million. The Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals National Health Service Trust will make monthly unitary payments to the phase 5 private finance initiative consortium totalling approximately £48.1 million (this figure includes an estimate for annual retail price index uplift) over the duration of the 30-year contract. This amount includes the provision of radiology medical equipment service by Phillips Medical Systems for the first 10 years, including lifecycle replacement and maintenance. The private finance initiative consortium is also providing the hard facilities management service (maintenance) for the building including full lifecycle replacement over the 30-year contract.
	Source:
	The Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Departmental Communications

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff were employed in communications roles in her Department on 1 October (a) 2003, (b) 2004 and (c) 2005; and if she will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: The Department routinely carries out an audit at the end of each financial year on the numbers of communications staff employed by the Communications Directorate, the result of which (in relation to "Press Officers") is placed in the Library. For each of the periods requested the numbers are as follows:
	
		
			  Press officers Other communication staff 
		
		
			 2002–03 24 110 
			 2003–04 26 102 
			 2004–05 30 98 
		
	
	The Special Advisors Code of conduct sets out the sort of work a special advisor may undertake on behalf of their Minister. This includes communications activity. This activity has not been identified within the above figures.
	The Department does not hold any figures for the numbers of staff on the actual dates quoted, as its audit is scheduled around the end of the financial year.
	These figures are for the Department's Communications Directorate only.

Departmental Consultation

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if she will list the consultation exercises undertaken by her Department in the last two years, indicating (a) how many consultation responses were received, (b) how many stakeholders were engaged in the consultation, (c) what the total cost of each consultation exercise was and (d) what the cost per participant of the consultation was;
	(2)  how many stakeholders have been engaged in the Government's Your Health, Your Care, Your Say consultation exercise; and if she will make a statement.

Liam Byrne: A total of 254 people attended the four regional events in Gateshead, Leicester, London and Plymouth and 998 people attended the citizen's summit in Birmingham on 29 October.
	When the consultation closed on 4 November, 147 feedback forms had been received from local deliberative consultation events. In addition, over 18,000 on-line questionnaires have been completed and approximately 15,500 hard copies of the questionnaire have been returned. Over 60 letters have also been received from interested stakeholders in response to the consultation.
	Representatives from over 60 statutory and non-statutory bodies were involved in five policy taskforces. A series of five academic seminars were also held, involving over 40 individuals from a variety of organisations. In addition, Ministers and officials met representatives of a wide range of stakeholder organisations at specially arranged and routine meetings to inform them about the exercise and to hear their views.
	Around 750 organisations were contacted and invited to register with a website which enabled interested stakeholders to keep up to date with the consultation, access key documents for holding consultation events and enable an exchange of views and ideas with other organisers of local events. Contact was maintained through a regular newsletter.
	Representatives from around 150 organisations attended a workshop on 19 July to discuss the best ways of involving stakeholders in the consultation and the resources required to make it a success. Around a further 120 organisations attended a briefing event about the consultation process and the website on 8 September.
	A number of stakeholder organisations have put information about the consultation on their websites and some have put links through to the "Your Health, Your Care, Your Say" questionnaire.

Health and Social Care

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much has been allocated by each strategic health authority to fund the secondment of health care assistants who wish to train as nurses in each year since the scheme began;
	(2)  how many health care assistants have been seconded to train as nurses by each NHS Trust in each year since the scheme began;
	(3)  what information is collected by her Department on the number of health care assistants who have requested secondments for nursing training and had that request refused;
	(4)  what recent discussions she has had on the current scheme for the secondment of health care assistants to nurse training; and if she will make a statement.

Liam Byrne: holding answer 27 October 2005
	The secondment scheme for health care assistants (HCAs) began in 1998–99. Up to 2003–04, the money for this scheme was routed through the former regional health authorities and regional offices who took local decisions on how much and which education consortia received funding. Therefore, we are only able to provide figures for the number of HCAs seconded in 2003–04, 2004–05 and expenditure for 2003–04, 2004–05 and 2005–06. This is shown in the table.
	
		HCAs who went on to nurse training courses
		
			  Number of HCAs Expenditure on HCAs (£000) 
			  2003–04 2004–05 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06(25) 
		
		
			 Avon, Gloucs and Wilts 336 522 4,067 6,524 7,423 
			 Beds and Herts 224 311 2,716 3,881 4,172 
			 Birmingham and Black Country 655 869 7,932 10,863 12,083 
			 Cheshire and Merseyside 614 774 7,435 9,672 12,017 
			 County Durham and Tees Valley 182 226 2,202 2,825 3,396 
			 Cumbria and Lancashire 387 544 4,683 6,795 7,239 
			 Devon and Cornwall 174 238 2,103 2,969 4,212 
			 Dorset and Somerset 190 233 2,906 2,910 3,304 
			 Essex 202 289 2,449 3,605 5,528 
			 Greater Manchester 630 853 7,637 10,661 11,188 
			 Hampshire and Isle of Wight 303 443 3,669 5,537 5,923 
			 Kent and Medway 586 285 7,098 3,558 4,778 
			 Leicestershire, Northants and Rutland 298 337 3,607 4,213 4,422 
			 Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire 281 389 3,402 4,857 6,344 
			 North and East Yorkshire and North East Lines 224 331 2,715 4,132 4,804 
			 North Central London 438 561 6,676 8,828 8,445 
			 North East London 429 559 6,539 8,798 9,254 
			 North West London 457 603 6,975 9,488 10,419 
			 Northumberland Tyne and Wear 255 330 3,086 4,120 4,620 
			 Shropshire and Staffordshire 266 292 4,052 3,654 4,501 
			 South East London 381 506 5,812 7,969 8,332 
			 South West London 204 260 3,111 4,099 4,320 
			 South Yorkshire 352 412 4,266 5,150 6,160 
			 Surrey and Sussex — 442 — 5,518 6,542 
			 Thames Valley 309 402 3,739 5,028 4,883 
			 Trent 390 587 4,726 7,334 8,068 
			 West Midlands South 231 293 2,794 3,659 4,515 
			 West Yorkshire 454 552 5,500 6,895 7,989 
			 Total 9,450 12,442 121,897.9 163,545 184,882 
		
	
	(25) Planned.
	Officials keep the scheme under regular review and I am satisfied that it has provided significant help in supporting HCAs who wish to become nurses. Indeed, the number of HCAs participating has exceeded our expectations.
	In 1998–99, £50 million was allocated to widening access initiatives and the majority was spent on HCA secondments. In 2003–04, the student nurse population was around 63,000 and of these over 6,900 were HCAs. In 2004–05, £164 million was allocated to strategic health authority workforce directorates to fund tuition fees and salary support for HCA's pre-registration training for an increased HCA population of over 9,400 (18 percent. of the population). In 2005–06, the planned spend is around £185 million and the number of HCAs entering pre-registration nurse training is expected to rise to over 13,500 (18 percent. of the student population).
	We do not hold centrally the number of applications accepted or rejected by national health service trusts nor the number of NHS trusts who do not offer secondments. The number of HCAs seconded to train as nurses is a matter for local decision and it is for individual employers to decide their policy on offering such secondments.
	My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health addressed the Healthcare Assistants' Conference in July 2005 where she praised the outstanding care that healthcare assistants deliver on a daily basis. She made a commitment to continue to invest and reform the training and development opportunities for all in the NHS.

Health Services (North Yorkshire)

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on structural changes to health services in North Yorkshire.

Liam Byrne: Strategic health authorities (SHAs) have recently submitted their proposals for the reconfiguration of primary care trusts (PCTs), which set out how they intend to strengthen their commissioning function. These proposals have been assessed by an independent external panel drawn from and representing a wide range of stakeholder interests, to determine whether the SHA proposals meet the criteria stipulated in "Commissioning a Patient-Led NHS", (July 2005). Where the criteria are judged to have been met the proposals will go forward to a three-month public consultation. No decisions on the reorganisation of PCTs will be taken until this process has been completed.

Hospital (Catering/Parking)

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines she has given to hospitals about the provision of parking spaces for (a) staff and (b) visitors; and if she will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: In 1996, NHS Estates, an Executive agency of the Department, published "Car Parking, Health Facilities Note 21", which provided advice and guidance on issues surrounding the optimum provision of car parking facilities for health care premises. This has been placed in the Library.
	The Department is currently finalising a new guidance document, "Transport Management and Car Parking: best practice guidance for NHS Trusts in England", which looks at what measures trusts can adopt when developing travel plans. In addition, it can be used to facilitate discussions with local planning authorities.

Hull Royal Infirmary

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients have (a) contracted and (b) died from hospital acquired infections at the Hull Royal Infirmary in each year since figures have been available.

Liam Byrne: The information is not available in the format requested. The table shows the number of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia reports from April 2001 to March 2005 1 for the Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals National Health Service Trust.
	
		
			  Number of MRSA bacteraemia reports MRSA rate per 1,000 bed days 
		
		
			 April 2001 to March 2002 106 0.26 
			 April 2002 to March 2003 75 0.18 
			 April 2003 to March 2004 102 0.23 
			 April 2004 to March 2005 90 (26)0.21 
		
	
	(26) Provisional as final activity data to be confirmed.
	Source:
	Mandatory MRSA blood stream infections surveillance system
	Data for years prior to 2001 on the trust's MRSA bacteraemia rates (by number of reports and rate per 1,000 bed days) is available on the Department's website at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics.
	It is not possible to give reliable figures on the number of deaths involving hospital-acquired infections at the Hull and East Yorkshire Hospital NHS Trust from routinely collected mortality data. This is because, as elsewhere, information on where the infection was acquired may not be available to the doctor certifying the death.

Hull Royal Infirmary

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (a) current projects, (b) equipment and (c) facilities at the Hull Royal Infirmary have been paid for by, or receive funding from, charitable organisations.

Liam Byrne: The information requested is not held centrally.

Hull Royal Infirmary

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cancelled operations there were at the Hull Royal Infirmary in each year since 1997.

Liam Byrne: The information is not available in the format requested. However, information relating to the Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals National Health Service Trust is shown in the table.
	
		Last minute cancelled operations for non-clinical reasons at Hull and East Yorkshire Hospital Trust
		
			  Number of last minute cancelled operations 
		
		
			 March 2002 301 
			 March 2003 249 
			 March 2004 222 
			 March 2005 333 
			 September 2005 146 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Data are not collected for individual hospitals. Data were collected by health authority only prior to 2001–02. Trust level data were collected from 2001–02 onwards. September 2005 represents the latest data.
	2. A last minute cancellation is one that occurs on the day the patient was due to arrive, after they have arrived in hospital or on the day of their operation. For example, you are to be admitted to hospital on a Monday for an operation scheduled for the following day (Tuesday). If the hospital cancels your operation for non-clinical reasons on the Monday then this would count as a last minute cancellation. This includes patients who have not actually arrived in hospital and have been telephoned at home prior to their arrival.
	3. An operation which is rescheduled to a time within 24 hours of the original scheduled operation should be recorded as a postponement and not as a cancellation. The quarterly monitoring cancelled operations (QMCO) collection does not record the number of postponements.
	4. Some common non-clinical reasons for cancellations by the hospital include: ward beds unavailable; surgeon unavailable; emergency case needing theatre; theatre list over-ran; equipment failure; administrative error; anaesthetist unavailable; theatre staff unavailable; and critical care bed unavailable.
	Source:
	Department of Health dataset QMCO

Immunotoxicologists

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans the Department has to advance medical toxicology in the UK, with specific regard to the employment of immunotoxicologists.

Caroline Flint: The Department is in touch with the Royal College of General Practitioners with a view to improving the training in toxicology provided for general practitioners. Contacts between the Department and leading United Kingdom clinical toxicologists have led to questions in this area being included in the Membership examination of the Royal College of Physicians. Officials from the Department have served on committees of the British Toxicology Society and the Royal College of Pathologists group that administers the diploma in toxicology. The Department has funded research in toxicology and with the aid of Chief Medical Officer's expert advisory committees has published reports and reviews in the field.
	The Department has not focussed specifically on immunotoxicology, although Professor Stephen Holgate, Medical Research Council's Professor of Immuno-pharmacology at Southampton Medical School, is a member of the Committee on the Medical effects of Air Pollutants and has been influential in drawing questions in the immuno-toxicology area to the Department's attention.

In-vitro Fertilisation

Lee Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on in-vitro fertilisation treatment in each primary care trust in England in the last year for which figures are available.

Caroline Flint: Information about primary care trusts' expenditure on in vitro fertilisation is not collected centrally. The primary responsibility for the provision of these services rests with the national health service at local level.

Maladministration

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many payments for maladministration have been made by (a) her Department, (b) its agencies, (c) its non- departmental public bodies and (d) other bodies for which her Department has responsibility in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: It is the policy of the Department, its agencies, non-departmental public bodies and, where appropriate, its sponsored organisations to make financial redress in accordance with the guidance set out in "Chapter 18.7 and Annexes 18.1 and 18.2 of Government Accounting".
	The information requested is shown in the following table:
	
		Numbers of maladministration cases for which financial redress was made
		
			 Department of Health 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 Department — — — — — 
			 Agencies — 1 — — — 
			 Non departmental public bodies — — 1 — — 
			 Bodies sponsored by Department — — — — — 
			 National health service bodies: total 3 22 31 63 58 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. 2004–05 NHS figures do not include data from NHS foundation trusts.
	2. NHS bodies (health authorities, strategic health authorities, primary care trusts and NHS trusts) follow the guidance in para, (e) of Annex 2 of Chapter 5 of the relevant Manual for Accounts, which adapts elements of the Government Accounting Guidance to be applicable to the NHS.
	Sources:
	Department of Health Annual Reports on Losses and Special Payments
	Audited summarisation forms of the health authorities 2000–01 to 2001–02
	Audited summarisation forms of the strategic health authorities 2002–03 to 2004–05
	Audited summarisation schedules of the primary care trusts 2000–01 to 2004–05
	Audited summarisation schedules of the NHS trusts 2000–01 to 2004–05

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency's performance in assessing applications for new marketing authorisations.

Jane Kennedy: All applications for new marketing authorisations made to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) under the European licensing procedures are being assessed well within the statutory timelines. The MHRA continues to assess new active substance applications with a mean assessment time of less than 40 days. However, it is acknowledged that performance with regard to the assessment of national abridged applications is currently below MHRA norms. This is due to a combination of reasons. As a result of new European requirements regarding the format of applications, the MHRA experienced a surge in applications in 2003 resulting in a backlog of applications to be processed. This, coupled with some difficulties in recruiting appropriate professional assessment staff as a result of market forces and the recent introduction of Sentinel, the MHRA's new information management system, has had an adverse effect on MHRA's overall efficiency in this area. Steps are currently in progress to actively address these issues, including a recent successful recruitment campaign, overtime exercises and the implementation of a range of steps to improve efficiency.

Obesity

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the number of children likely to suffer from obesity over the next 10 years.

Caroline Flint: The prevalence of obesity in children aged two to 10 years increased from 9.6 per cent. in 1995 to 13.7 per cent. in 2003. The British Medical Association estimates that one-in-five boys and one-in-three girls will be obese by 2020, as stated in the recent schools' White Paper. In 2004, the Government adopted a public service agreement (PSA) target
	"to halt, by 2010, the year-on-year increase in obesity among children under 11 in the context of a broader strategy to tackle obesity in the population as a whole."
	This PSA target is held jointly by the Department, the Department for Education and Skills and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Parliamentary Questions

John Maples: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she will answer questions (a) 26323, (b) 26321 and (c) 26322 tabled by the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon on 3 November.

Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave him on 23 November 2005, Official Report, column 2116W, and on 28 November 2005, Official Report, column 254W, and to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Care Services (Mr. Byrne), on 30 November 2005, Official Report, column 497W.

Pesticides

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the recent oral evidence from the Department to the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, what the evidential basis was for the statement that pesticide use has not increased.

Caroline Flint: The statement that pesticide usage has not increased, made by a Departmental official while giving oral evidence to the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, was based on evidence provided in the National Statistics, "Pesticide Usage Survey Report 202 on Arable Crops in Great Britain 2004", which is available on the Central Science Laboratory's (CSL) website at www.csl.gov.uk/science/organ/pvm/puskm/arable2004.pdf and on the National Statistics, "Pesticide Usage Survey Report 195 on Outdoor Vegetable Crops in Great Britain 2003", also available on CSL's website at www.csl.gov.uk/science/organ/pvm/puskm/outdoorveg2003.pdf.
	These show that although areas treated may have increased, the amounts used have generally declined.

Pesticides

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will ask the Pesticides Safety Directorate to commission research on the bystander impact of pesticide use.

Caroline Flint: The Department will be contributing to the Government response to the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution's report, "Crop Spraying and the Health of Residents and Bystanders", which is being coordinated by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This is likely to include the commission of new research but details are yet to be decided. Departmental officials have been discussing with the pesticides safety directorate issues of common interest with respect to the report.

Physical Activity

Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions she has held with professional rugby clubs about developing community rugby programmes to tackle obesity and increase participation in physical activity; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: We are keen to encourage both rugby codes to work in partnership with local authorities, primary care trusts and other local partners to promote physical activity and healthy lifestyles in the community.
	I attended an event to disseminate the results of the "Professional Rugby in the Community Consultation" and showcase some of the excellent community work being undertaken by premier rugby clubs, which was hosted by Premier Rugby Ltd. on 9 November 2005.
	Premier Rugby Ltd. were invited to give a presentation setting out professional rugby's commitment to community development at the first of the regional sport and health seminars organised on behalf of the Department on 25 November 2005 in Leeds, at which I also spoke.
	Prior to these events my officials met with representatives of Premier Rugby Ltd. to discuss how professional rugby clubs and the national health service might work together at a local level to increase physical activity and tackle obesity.

Pressure Ulcers

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  whether she plans to monitor adherence to the clinical guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence on pressure ulcer management, published in September; and what plans she has to monitor the uptake of vacuum assisted closure technologies as recommended by the guidance;
	(2)  what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of vacuum assisted closure machines in treating open wounds;
	(3)  what steps she is taking to prevent pressure ulcers in NHS hospitals.

Liam Byrne: Clinical guidelines published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) are recommendations on the appropriate treatment and care of people with specific diseases and conditions within the national health service. They are based on the best available evidence. Guidelines help health professionals in their work, but they do not replace their knowledge and skills.
	We have no plans to monitor the uptake of vacuum-assisted closure technologies as the NICE guidance stated that the findings on the effectiveness of such technology must be viewed with extreme caution due to limited trial-based evidence.
	The Department has made no assessment on the effectiveness of vacuum assisted closure machines in treating open wounds.
	Reducing the incidence of pressure sores in hospitals is tackled locally through the development and implementation of individualised plans for prevention and treatment agreed and delivered by a multidisciplinary team working with patients and their carers.
	We have no plans to monitor the uptake of vacuum-assisted closure technologies as the NICE guidance stated that the findings on the effectiveness of such technology must be viewed with extreme caution due to limited trial-based evidence.
	The Department has made no assessment on the effectiveness of vacuum assisted closure machines in treating open wounds.
	Reducing the incidence of pressure sores in hospitals is tackled locally through the development and implementation of individualised plans for prevention and treatment agreed and delivered by a multidisciplinary team working with patients and their carers.

Primary Care Trusts

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether decisions by primary care trusts to divest themselves of service provision will be based on the results of the "Your Health, Your Care, Your Say" consultation.

Liam Byrne: Any move away from direct provision of services will be a decision for the local national health service within the framework set out in the forthcoming White Paper, "Your Health, Your Care, Your Say", and after local consultation. We will support primary care trusts (PCTs) who want to do that, but we will not instruct PCTs to do it, nor will we impose any timetable. What matters is getting the best services for each community—and that is what the White Paper will focus on.

Sexual Health

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she takes to monitor the use of funding allocated to primary care trusts to improve sexual health services following the publication of the Choosing Health White Paper in November 2004.

Caroline Flint: Primary care trusts will receive funding for implementing the targets in the Choosing Health White Paper in their mainstream allocations and we will be monitoring the outcomes from this investment. In particular, the progress towards targets to reduce the level of new infections of gonorrhoea, to ensure patients have access to genitor-urinary medicine clinics within 48 hours by 2008 and numbers of screens undertaken in the Chlamydia screening programme. These improved performance measures, should significantly strengthen the incentive for local investment and service modernisation.
	In addition, a letter has been sent by the Department to strategic health authority chief executives highlighting that when considering any savings from implementing "Commissioning a patient led NHS", savings should not be identified from those posts working on implementation of Choosing Health. This includes posts in frontline services.

Smoking/Alcohol

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many women have smoked during pregnancy in each of the last 10 years.

Caroline Flint: The data is not available in the exact format as requested. The data which is presented is the most recent available.
	Information on smoking in pregnancy is obtained from the infant feeding survey, which is carried out every five years; the most recent survey was in 2000. The available information is shown in the table.
	
		Proportion of women who smoked throughout pregnancy, England, 1990, 1995, and 2000
		
			 Percentage 
			 Smoking prevalence 1990(33) 1995(34) 2000(34) 
		
		
			 Smoked during pregnancy 28 23 19 
			 Base number 5,413 4,956 (35)4,921 
		
	
	(33) Data for 1990 relates to Great Britain.
	(34) The results from the 1995 and 2000 surveys are not directly comparable, since some of the smoking questions on the questionnaire were revised in 2000 to improve the reliability of the results.
	(35) The base for 2000 excludes 200 mothers who did not supply sufficient information for their smoking status to be classified.
	Sources:
	Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, Infant Feeding Survey 1990
	Office for National Statistics, Infant Feeding Survey 1995
	BMRB Infant Feeding Survey 2000, which is available on the Department's website at: www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/05/97/63/04059763.pdf

Smoking/Alcohol

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many incidences of (a) smoking and (b) alcohol-related conditions were treated in (i) 1998 and (ii) the most recent year for which information is available; what the cost of treatment was in each year; and what estimate the Government have made of the costs to the economy.

Caroline Flint: holding answer 5 December 2005
	The information is not available in the form requested.
	The latest estimates, published in 2004 by the Health Development Agency in the document, "The Smoking Epidemic" are that smoking kills around 86,500 people a year in England, one-fifth of all deaths.
	The latest data on the cost to the national health service of treating illness and disease caused by smoking is estimated to cost between £1.4 to £1.7 billion every year in terms of general practitioner visits, prescriptions, treatment and operations.
	Estimates of total cost to the economy are not available.
	The incidence of alcohol-related conditions treated are shown in the table.
	
		Count of finished consultant episodes for selected alcohol related diseases NHS hospitals: England, data year 1998–99 and 2003–04
		
			 Primary diagnosis 1998–99 2003–04 
		
		
			 Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol 35,947 38,101 
			 Alcoholic liver disease 13,689 21,001 
			 Toxic effect of alcohol 2,130 1,591 
			 Total 51,765 60,693 
		
	
	Notes:
	Finished consultant episode (FCE)
	An FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Please note that the figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the year.
	Diagnosis (primary diagnosis)
	The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (seven prior to 2002–03) diagnosis fields in the hospital episode statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.
	Grossing
	Figures are grossed for both coverage and missing/invalid clinical data, except for 2003–04, which is not yet adjusted for shortfalls.
	Source:
	Hospital episode statistics, health and social care information centre
	It was estimated that the cost to the NHS in 2000–01 to be at a middle range of £1.5 billion.
	The Prime Ministers strategy unit's interim analysis for the alcohol harm reduction strategy for England estimated that the overall cost of alcohol misuse was £20 billion a year.

Antisocial Behaviour (Hedges)

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what discussions he has had with local councils about the workings of the high hedges provisions in the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003; and if he will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: holding answer 5 December 2005
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has held no formal discussions with local councils about the workings of the high hedges provisions in the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, which came into force in June 2005. The Government is committed to a formal review of this legislation after it has been in operation for five years.

Bus Services (Stoke Orchard)

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he made of bus services attending Stoke Orchard, Gloucestershire when objecting to this aspect of Tewkesbury borough council's local plan; and if he will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: holding answer 6 December 2005
	As part of the assessment process of the Tewkesbury local plan, information from both Tewkesbury borough council and the bus service operators in the area was obtained in respect of the allocation at Stoke Orchard. This information was taken into account in my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister, the First Secretary of State's decision to direct Tewkesbury borough council to delete the policy relating to the site allocation at Stoke Orchard from the Tewkesbury borough local plan.
	It was my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister, the First Secretary of State's view that this policy was inconsistent with PPG3, PPS7, PPG13 and RPG10 and would lead to a greater dispersal of development, exacerbating unsustainable patterns of commuting.

Homelessness

David Amess: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the number of homeless people in (a) Southend, (b) Essex, (c) Greater London and (d) England in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Yvette Cooper: Information about English local authorities' actions under homelessness legislation is collected quarterly and is in respect of households rather than people. The number of households accepted as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need for the past five financial years, and the number of households in temporary accommodation arranged by local authorities under homelessness legislation as at 31 March of each year, is listed in the following table for Southend-on-Sea, Essex, Greater London and England. For corresponding information about Welsh authorities, I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
	After being accepted as homeless, a household will be placed in some form of accommodation. They may be placed in temporary accommodation, until a settled solution becomes available, or they may be given a settled solution straight away depending on the accommodation available to the local authority. As an alternative to temporary accommodation an authority may arrange for a household to remain in their current accommodation (homeless at home), until a settled solution becomes available.
	Information is also collected on the number of people who sleep rough, that is, those who are literally roofless on a single night. The following table also shows the number of persons sleeping rough on a single night of each year.
	
		Households accepted(36) as homeless during the year, households in temporary accommodation at the end of the year,and numbers of rough sleepers
		
			 Households 
			  Accepted during 2000–01 In TA(37) at end March 2001 Rough sleepers(38) (persons) 2000 Accepted during 2001–02 In TA(37) at end March 2002 Rough sleepers(38) (persons) 2001 
		
		
			 Southend-on-Sea 121 161 16 157 121 1 
			 Essex(39) 2,922 1,937 0 2,891 2,424 0 
			 Greater London 29,710 42,620 546 29,320 46,390 357 
			 England 114,670 75,200 1,180 116,660 80,210 703 
		
	
	
		
			  Accepted during 2002–03 In TA2 at end March 2003 Rough sleepers3 (persons) 2002 Accepted during 2003–04 In TA2 at end March 2004 Rough sleepers3 (persons) 2003 
		
		
			 Southend-on-Sea 230 175 1 n/a n/a 0 
			 Essex(39) 2,892 2,939 0 2,962 3,021 0 
			 Greater London 29,790 52,690 321 30,080 58,820 267 
			 England 128,540 89,040 596 135,430 97,680 504 
		
	
	
		
			  Accepted during 2004–05 In TA2 at end March 2005–12–08 Rough sleepers3 (persons) 2004 
		
		
			 Southend-on-Sea 236 207 0 
			 Essex(39) 2,406 2,987 2 
			 Greater London 26,730 61,990 265 
			 England 120,860 101,070 508 
		
	
	(36) All households eligible under homelessness legislation, found to be unintentionally homeless and in a priority need category, and consequently owed a main homelessness duty, n/a denotes the authority failed to provide a return for one or more quarters of the year
	(37) Households in accommodation either pending a decision on their homelessness application or awaiting allocation of a settled home following acceptance. Excludes those households designated as "homeless at home" that have remained in their existing accommodation and have the same rights to suitable alternative accommodation as those in accommodation arranged by the authority.
	Figures for Essex, London and England include ODPM estimates for any incomplete or missing P1E returns
	(38) Number of persons sleeping rough, based on local authority mid-year counts or estimates.
	(39) Essex comprises 12 district councils, and excludes the unitary authorities of Southend on Sea and Thurrock
	Source:
	ODPM P1E Homelessness returns (quarterly) and HSSA returns (annual)

Housing

James Duddridge: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when the Government will publish its final response to the Barker Review of housing supply; and if he will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: holding answer 2 December 2005
	The Government's initial response to Kate Barker's report was provided by my right hon. Friends the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Deputy Prime Minister alongside the budget on 17 March 2004. We published the full response on 5 December 2005.

Housing

Adam Holloway: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether (a) local authorities and (b) social services have responsibility for housing vulnerable people; and if he will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: Local authorities have a number of responsibilities to provide accommodation and support for vulnerable people. These include:
	A duty under part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 for local housing authorities in England to ensure that suitable accommodation is available for people who are homeless through no fault of their own, if they are eligible for assistance and fall within a priority need group. (Priority need groups are as defined in section 189 of the 1996 Act and, additionally, in the Homelessness (Priority Need for Accommodation) (England) Order 2002.)
	A duty under part 6 of the Housing Act 1996 for local housing authorities to ensure, in allocating settled social housing, that 'reasonable preference' for an allocation goes to certain categories of people (including those who are homeless and those who need to move on medical or welfare grounds) who might be considered vulnerable.
	A duty under the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 23(B) (8) (b) to promote the welfare of care leavers, aged 16–18, and to support them by providing them with or maintaining them in suitable accommodation. Local authorities have continuing responsibilities to support care leavers aged 18–21 which may also require them to offer support to enable this group to access suitable accommodation.
	A duty under section 20 (3) of the Children Act 1989 to accommodate any child in need aged 16 and 17 whose welfare is likely to be seriously prejudiced without the provision of accommodation. A child accommodated under this section, will become looked-after by the local authority.
	Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 also includes the power for the children's services function of local authorities to provide accommodation for families and children. The power to provide accommodation under this section will almost always concern children needing to be accommodated with their families.
	However, there may be cases where a lone child who needs help with accommodation, but who does not need to become a looked-after child, might appropriately be assisted under section 17. In these cases, the decision about whether or not a child should be accommodated by the local authority and the related decision as to whether he/she should become looked-after will be determined by the local authority's assessment of the child's needs in accordance with the statutory guidance set out in "The framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families" published by the Government in April 2000.
	A power, and so far as directed by the Secretary of State for Health a duty, under sections 21 and 29 of the National Assistance Act 1948, for local authority social services to provide residential accommodation and certain other welfare services for people who are 'ordinarily resident' in the authority's area and who are in need of residential care. This includes a person with no settled residence or ordinarily resident elsewhere who is in urgent need of residential care.
	In single tier arrangements, these duties will fall to parts of the same local authority. In two-tier arrangements, the housing duties will fall to the lower tier authority and the social services duties will fall to the upper tier authority.
	While not a duty, upper tier authorities also provide housing-related support services for vulnerable adults through the Supporting People programme. These services are intended to support and assist people to maintain or move towards living independently.

Housing

Terry Rooney: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps he is taking to encourage local authorities to adopt innovative solutions to address household overcrowding in their area.

Yvette Cooper: holding answer 6 December 2005
	The Government have doubled its investment in social housing from 1997 levels and the Housing Corporation has taken steps to encourage investment in larger homes through its National Affordable Housing programme. Against that background, it is for local authorities to develop housing strategies that give due weight to the needs of overcrowded households alongside the other housing needs in their area.

Housing

David Amess: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much his Department has allocated for social housing in each constituency in Essex in each of the past 10 years.

Yvette Cooper: Information is not readily available for all of the funding allocations until 1999. A total of £626 million has been allocated for social housing in Essex from 1999 to 2005–06. This includes allocations for new build, improvements to existing stock and disabled facilities grants.

Planning

Michael Fallon: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects to publish proposals to amend the law on planning and Travellers.

Yvette Cooper: holding answer 2 December 2005
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister expects to publish the new Planning Circular for Gypsies and Travellers, to replace DOE Circular 1/94 "Gypsy Sites and Planning", early in the new year.